Ottawa’s Chris Neil surprised Canadiens goalie Cristobal Huet with an unassisted wrist shot from the deep slot at 16:30 to give the Senators the victory. An insurance goal was scored into an empty net in the dying seconds by captain Daniel Alfredsson, who has put four of his 13 goals this season into an empty net.

The Senators outshot their visitors 37-29.

The quite terrific Canadiens, now 9-4-3 who were 7-1-1 in their last nine games, and the remarkable 14-2-0 Senators, their eight-game winning streak snapped on Thursday, engaged in something pretty classic. We might not see something this good for months.

Alfredsson, stoned a period earlier by Huet on a penalty shot, drove
home the tying goal from the deep slot at 14:50 of the third, his 12th of the season. Huet, who’d played out of his mind again, didn’t have a chance on the setup by Ottawa’s Dany Heatley and Mike Fisher.

Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov had scored his fifth of the season on a first-period power-play blast past Ottawa goalie Martin Gerber at 11:11, assisted by captain Saku Koivu and Michael Ryder with the Senators’ Neil serving a minor for delay of game.

From this intense game, the Canadiens now move into Toronto for their third in a four-game road trip, meeting the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, having opened up Thursday in Boston with a 2-1 victory over the Bruins. The trip ends Friday in Buffalo.

From left: Kostopoulos, Heatley, Komisarek and Vermette are at close quarters chasing a loose puck.Christopher Pike, Reuters

Senators’ Chris Neil celebrates his game-winning goal, with Huet on the seat of his pants and Francis Bouillon and Michael Ryder skating away.Christopher Pike, Reuters

Huet stops Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson on a second-period penalty shot. Alfredsson would have the last laugh, scoring twice in the third period in a first-star performance.
André Ringuette, NHLI via Getty Images